After completing last week’s Big Juice Spring Clean (five days of nothing but juice – lost 7lbs, yay!) I found I had quite a lot of ingredients left over, unexpectedly. I could of course have just juiced them all; but having had five days without solid food, my tastebuds were desperate for something delicious and solid for a change. The first recipe I created was a lovely rainbow courgetti, but there were still plenty of leftovers to warrant a second recipe… and in fact a third recipe, which I’ll share in a couple of days’ time.

It didn’t take much effort to come up with this recipe, if I’m honest… I love all sorts of Asian food, from delicately spiced Thai dishes to fairly hot Indian curries, with a bit of Chinese and Vietnamese along the way… so once I took a look in the fridge and saw what was available, this soup was rather a no-brainer!

I had roast chicken and salad for dinner, the night after the detox ended, and there was a little chicken left over as well as a bunch of veg from the detox itself. Now, if you’re a vegetarian, you can omit the chicken from this soup, and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. And if you’re a vegan, you can leave out the egg too. I’m sure the flavour will be just as good if you make this a vegan soup – it just happens that I really enjoy the flavour of chicken, and I love Chinese soups with egg stirred through, so that’s what inspired this recipe

Heat the oil and fry the onions and mushrooms until the onions have softened.

Add the broccoli, carrots, greens/kale and sugarsnap peas. Stir well and add the lemongrass, ginger and garlic.

Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Once the soup is boiling, turn the heat down a little and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the asparagus and chicken, and cook for another five minutes.

Stir in the sweetcorn and desiccated coconut. Season with the salt and pepper to taste.

Finally, drizzle the beaten egg into the soup – the egg should set pretty much immediately. The soup is now ready to serve.

I found I got two very generous portions from this recipe – enough for two hearty lunches. If you were serving this as a starter at a dinner party (and yes, I really believe it’s tasty enough to be served at a dinner party!) then you’d squeeze four starter-sized portions out of this recipe.

I ate half of this for lunch today – can’t wait until tomorrow lunchtime when I get to eat the other half – yay!

I absolutely adore Thai food. I could happily eat Thai at every meal, and never get bored. The flavours are just so sublime; so intense yet delicate at the same time… practically orgasmic!

Now, I know I’m ‘dieting’, for want of a better word (i.e. trying to lose weight), but I think it’s important to have something nice to look forward to, and for me Thai curry is that ‘something’. You’d think that this is a very fattening dish, but actually, I’m reliably informed that coconut is not as evil as people think it is, and if you’re frying in coconut oil instead of sunflower/vegetable oil, you’re doing a very positive healthy thing – so knock yourself out once in a while, I say!

It’s surprisingly easy to make a really authentic-tasting Thai green chicken curry from scratch. The only pre-made ingredient I use is a really good curry paste, which is the best I’ve ever tasted (even better than home made). The one I use is Mae Ploy, which I get from the world foods isle at our local Tesco superstore. If your supermarket doesn’t stock it, look for it online; it’s worth it to get the flavour just right.

A quick note regarding the ingredients, before I share the recipe.

Kaffir lime leaves: many supermarkets sell dried kaffir lime leaves, but they’re nowhere near as nice as the ones you buy in jars, preserved in water. I buy mine in bulk at Amazon; they last ages in the fridge, and are good value for money.

Thai basil: don’t be tempted to use normal basil; it’s not the same. This is another ingredient I buy in bulk at Amazon.

Palm sugar: I believe this has a lower GI than sugar or honey, but the reason I buy it is because the taste is that bit more authentic (though I will use honey if I’ve run out of palm sugar). Again – bought in bulk at Amazon

This recipe makes enough Thai green chicken curry for two very generous portions or three normal portions (you can freeze any leftovers).

1-2tbsp green Thai curry paste (depending on how hot you like your curry to be)

1tbsp Thai fish sauce

2tsp palm sugar

1tbsp kaffir lime leaves

1 tin coconut milk

Generous handful of frozen peas (unless you’re lucky enough to live somewhere where it’s easy to get pea aubergines!)

1 rounded tsp Thai basil

Heat the oil in a large, lidded frying pan. Add the chicken and cook until all sides are sealed. Stir in the onions and mushrooms, and cook gently until softened.

Add the curry paste, fish sauce, palm sugar and lime leaves, and stir well until the meat and veg are well coated. Add the coconut milk, turn the heat up and bring just about to the boil.

As soon as the curry starts to boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting, stir in the peas, then cover the pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through. Stir in the Thai basil and serve with rice or noodles.

We had this for dinner tonight, with Quorn sausages, veg and gravy. I’ve never really been a fan of mashed potato, which is why I invented this recipe; it’s much tastier, less stodgy, is healthier, and the yellow split peas add an interesting texture. If you don’t have (or like) coconut oil, use olive/sunflower oil, or butter, instead (virgin coconut oil is super-healthy though, so it’s worth investing in).

By the way, please forgive my very informal measurements; I make this dish by ‘eye’ rather than by scales, so I’ve had to guess at the measurements a bit!

Put the sweet potato, lentils and yellow split peas into the salted water. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer, and continue simmering until the sweet potatoes are starting to soften (about 10 minutes usually).

Meanwhile, fry the leeks in the oil until softened and starting to brown.

When the sweet potatoes are soft enough to mash, drain them (and the lentils/split peas) then return them to the pan with the leeks. Mash well with a potato masher, season to taste, then serve.